Plastic nonwoven webs formed by nonwoven extrusion processes such as, for example, meltblowing processes and spunbonding processes may be manufactured into products and components of products so inexpensively that the products could be viewed as disposable after only one or a few uses. Representatives of such products include diapers, tissues, wipes, garments, mattress pads and feminine care products.
Some of the problems in this area are the provision of an elastic material which is resilient and flexible while still having a pleasing feel. One problem is the provision of an elastic material which does not feel plastic or rubbery. The properties of the elastic materials can be improved by forming a laminate of an elastic material with one or more nonelastic materials on the outer surface which provide better tactile properties.
Nonwoven webs formed from nonelastic polymers such as, for example, polypropylene are generally considered nonelastic. The lack of elasticity usually restricts these nonwoven web materials to applications where elasticity is not required.
Composites of elastic and nonelastic materials have been made by bonding nonelastic materials to elastic materials in a manner that allows the entire composite material to stretch or elongate, typically in one direction, so they can be used in garment materials, pads, diapers and personal care products where elasticity may be desired.
In one such composite material, a nonelastic material is joined to an elastic sheet while the elastic sheet is in a stretched condition so that when the elastic sheet is relaxed, the nonelastic material gathers between the locations where it is bonded to the elastic sheet. The resulting composite elastic material is stretchable to the extent that the nonelastic material gathered between the bond locations allows the elastic sheet to elongate. An example of this type of composite material is disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,415 to Vander Wielen et al., issued Jan. 19, 1988.
Another elastic sheet could be used in place of the nonelastic gatherable material in the composite of Vander Wielen et al. so that the resulting composite material may be capable of stretching in more than one direction. However, a composite formed solely from elastic sheets would have the undesirable plastic or rubbery feel which was intended to be eliminated by producing composites of elastic and nonelastic materials.